Elbit America Completes First U.S.-Built SIGMA NG Artillery System for U.S. Army Review.

Elbit America has completed the first U.S.-assembled SIGMA Next Generation 155mm self-propelled howitzer as the Army accelerates its Self-Propelled Howitzer Modernization effort. The move signals a shift toward mature, automated artillery systems that can be fielded quickly while strengthening domestic production and supply chain resilience.

According to defense industry sources, Elbit America confirmed on December 30, 2025, that it has completed the first U.S.-assembled example of its SIGMA Next Generation 155mm self-propelled howitzer. The milestone aligns with the U.S. Army’s push to move away from long, internally driven development cycles and toward production-ready artillery that can be rapidly deployed to Transformation in Contact units for operational experimentation. Elbit positions SIGMA NG not simply as a gun mounted on a truck, but as a domestically built, automated artillery system optimized for rapid shoot-and-scoot operations under modern counter-battery threat conditions.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

Elbit SIGMA NG is a 155mm/52-caliber self-propelled truck howitzer with a fully automated, 360-degree turret, a 40-round onboard ammunition load, and MRSI firing, operated by a three-soldier crew from a protected cab and optimized for rapid shoot-and-scoot artillery missions (Picture source: Elbit America).

At the heart of SIGMA NG is a 155mm/52-caliber cannon mounted in a remote-controlled turret, with a NATO Joint Ballistic Memorandum of Understanding-compliant 23-liter chamber that allows it to fire the full catalogue of current 155mm projectiles and modular charge systems. The barrel is the one major exception to Elbit’s all-U.S. narrative: a U.S. forging is sent to Israel for completion before returning for integration, a detail that underscores how hard the company is leaning into domestic content as a discriminator in Washington’s increasingly protectionist procurement climate. The barrel is fitted with a fume extractor and muzzle brake, and the overall weapon is designed around automated laying and loading rather than crew drill, a shift that matters as artillery survivability becomes more about seconds than armor thickness.

SIGMA NG’s configuration is built on Oshkosh Defense’s LVSR 10x10 truck, deliberately chosen for commonality with logistics fleets already familiar to U.S. forces. Elbit highlights components aligned with the Palletized Load System ecosystem, including a central tire inflation system, and a steering arrangement that includes the first two and last two axle stations to keep a long 10x10 manageable in tight terrain. The gun crew is three soldiers operating from a fully armored forward cab, and they do not have to dismount for the fire mission. Four hydraulically operated stabilizers, two per side, are deployed rapidly to absorb recoil and maintain accuracy before the system displaces.

The operational significance is in the turret and ammunition flow. SIGMA NG carries 40 complete rounds with modular charges, and its automatic ammunition handling system is intended to sustain a high rate of fire while compressing exposure time at the firing point. Elbit markets multiple-round simultaneous impact capability, meaning the howitzer can fire several rounds at different trajectories so they arrive on target together, a tactic that can overwhelm point defenses, punish counter-battery sensors, or maximize effects during fleeting target windows. The turret’s full 360-degree traverse also removes a common limitation of truck-mounted guns that require vehicle repositioning for major azimuth changes, saving time when the fire direction center is pushing rapid retasks across dispersed targets.

Elbit’s confidence is rooted in the parallel Israeli program. The Israel Defense Forces’ Roem variant is closely aligned with SIGMA NG and is entering service as a step change over legacy M109 fleets in range, strategic mobility, and crew demand, with development reportedly stretched by wartime pressures. That operational lineage gives Elbit something U.S. evaluators consistently ask for: a design that is not just a prototype, but a system with doctrine, training lessons, and maintainability data emerging from real units. The company’s U.S. argument is straightforward: build it in South Carolina, minimize foreign dependencies, and deliver a protected, automated cannon that can keep pace with maneuver while reducing manpower and sustainment burden.

The competition, however, is stacked with proven names and politically savvy team-ups. Leonardo DRS and KNDS are offering CAESAR Mk II as a Mobile Tactical Cannon candidate, pitching a combat-proven artillery family shaped by hard lessons from Ukraine and designed for rapid deployment, with KNDS listing a 23-liter Joint Ballistic MoU chamber and published performance envelopes that extend from conventional missions out toward precision effects depending on ammunition type. Hanwha is positioning the tracked K9 Thunder as the lone tracked frontrunner in the currently visible field, while also signaling a wheeled variant for U.S. needs. Rheinmetall is pressing a highly automated wheeled howitzer concept on the HX3 10x10, emphasizing a protected-cab workflow and an electrically driven, fully automatic artillery turret with growth potential toward longer guns and extended-range charge systems. BAE Systems, meanwhile, is advancing an M109-52 approach that marries the Army’s familiar Paladin ecosystem with a 52-caliber gun, an option that could appeal to program managers seeking the lowest-disruption path to longer reach. General Dynamics-linked offerings include the tracked NEMESIS, an ASCOD-based concept integrating a fully automated 155mm/L52 artillery gun module, adding a credible armored alternative if the Army’s armor-equivalent requirement points decision-makers away from lighter wheeled solutions.

What may decide the contest is not a single firing table, but how well each bidder matches the Army’s stated envelope: armor comparable to today’s M109A7, mobility and transportability approaching HIMARS benchmarks, and ranges that push massed effects to roughly 58 km and precision fires toward 70 km, all while being domestically produced alongside a mated resupply vehicle concept. Elbit’s SIGMA NG is built around that last point as a strategic weapon in itself: a howitzer designed to win on industrial policy as much as on ballistics, with automation and a 40-round magazine intended to buy commanders time, and time is what keeps artillery alive.